Santiaga glanced around his surroundings, seeing the bodies of the heroes lying around like that.
The trees were rayed with blood, and he gently stood up, walking over to the body of the leader.
He placed his hand over the man's head, and then a dark, transparent aura seeped out of his palm, entering the man's head.
"Hmm... I see. So they were after something else?" he mumbled, letting go of the man.
"Haha, it's crazy that I nearly multiplied my stats by four times just from that one fight," he laughed, looking at his palms.
He felt stronger than he was just a while ago.
"Hm?" Santiaga looked at the screen with a frown on his face.
"What are you talking about?"
[In the state where you are able to use me to enhance your physical ability—where your body turns black...
At earlier levels, it's not advisable to sync it with your body, as it'll eat stamina quickly.]
"Oh?" Santiaga ruffled his grey hair, letting out a sigh.
"You're saying I would've been able to go longer in that fight if I didn't use it?" he asked to be sure.
'Hm, I'll need to check to see exactly how long I can last without getting tired. Also, the feeling of being drained after using Null Gate four times is very nauseating,' he shook his head, turning around to the snake he killed before.
He glanced at his palm with a calm face. A dark streak of liquid emerged from his palm and then began to take shape into a butcher knife.
Santiaga smiled as he held the black knife in his hand. He raised the snake and put it on his shoulder, dragging it in a particular direction.
'Those group of people following the strong woman—I should be able to catch up with them,' he thought, looking around.
The creature he dragged wasn't too heavy for him now, so he could walk and track the other heroes in here.
It didn't take him too long to find traces of the team of heroes that the Green Feather team were tracking.
These particular ones were all D-Class heroes, so he had to be careful.
The day was still bright—he hadn't spent a lot of time within the forest, so he could still spare time.
After walking a few hundred meters, he finally found a cave with a few bags outside.
With a smile, he walked over to a corner beside the cave and dropped the body of the serpent there.
...
Within the cave, Lady Emira walked with calm steps. She was clad in full golden armour that left her beautiful face showing.
Her long blonde hair swayed as she moved with a calm and confident posture. There were three people behind her:
One of them was an elderly man who seemed bulky behind the thick armour he wore. He wielded a rectangular shield, which was almost as tall as him, with ease.
The second person was a tall man holding a bow in his hands. His feathered hat and leather armour gave him a light build.
The last person was a young girl who was shorter than Emira, covered with a black cloak from head to toe, walking silently behind the group.
Above, close to the walls on an erected pillar, Santiaga watched them walk through the cave in silence.
He was ready to jump them once they noticed him. But that didn't seem to be happening anytime soon.
Santiaga's cyan eyes looked at the blue screen in front of him, and then he looked back at the group.
'Why is that?' he asked inwardly.
'Hmm, but they can see me physically?' Santiaga asked, getting ready to head out.
Santiaga stood up from the spot and moved stealthily behind them. He stayed close to them, walking for miles.
So far, he had learned a lot about the group. The two men beside Emira had an undying loyalty for her, except the assassin in the black cloak.
The archer was able to spot things from a very far distance, and he fired an arrow at a creature from over a hundred yards away.
'These D-Class heroes are no joke,' he gritted his teeth.
Still, they're no match for the man who killed him.
Santiaga frowned, seeing that bastard's face. His grin, his laughter.
Jeff was in a class of his own—he was too strong, too fast. His abilities were by no means simple.
'That man is a monster. To kill a monster, I have to become a monster myself,' he smirked, walking out of his hiding spot.
He teleported from his position, going to a dark area. He did this ten times until he was ahead of a curve in their path.
Now he was going to set up his plan.
...
Emira had been training her entire life for this. At a young age, she was offered to the church by her parents, and now this was the last step she had to take to gain the rank of an Inquisitor.
"So this is Dungeon Sanctum Number Nine. What divine beast did they cage here?" the assassin behind them asked.
"Well, I don't know. The creature should be slumbering. We're to only bring it back to the church," Elden, the man with the shield, explained.
"Why would they send you to retrieve such a powerful creature?" Rin asked, opening her hood.
Emira stopped, looking back at Rin with a calm gaze.
"The divine beast is said to be in a dormant state. From what I know, the church used a seal to contain these dangerous creatures and only uses them during the right times." Emira explained, smiling half-heartedly at Rin.
The archer suddenly pulled out his bow, shooting three arrows in less than three seconds in the direction in front of them.
The entire team went on alert immediately, pulling out their weapons and getting ready for battle.
Ahead of them was a whole horde of creatures that stood two meters tall, holding large butcher swords in their hands.
Their long horns, and the heads of bulls.
"Grade C Minotaur and its minions," Elden immediately recognized them and stood ahead of the formation.
Meanwhile, outside the cave, a man who sat atop a tree looked at the dummy behind him that resembled a golem made of stone.
His dark hair and calm brown eyes watched the cave with a calculated calmness.
He was clad in silver armour, his blue cape dancing in the wind as he stared at a fixed spot.
"What do you think? Should I have let the guy who brought the snake in?" he mumbled, looking back at the golem.
The golem let out cackling sounds, making the man smile.
"You're right, a mere E-rank without a brand will surely die in there," he let out a sigh.
"I don't know what the Pope was thinking, sending a B-Rank Enforcer like me here," he let out another sigh, sitting on the bark of the tree.